By a Quirk

We go to a Mexican restaurant that is a favorite eatery of ours.  You never enter without seeing a cross-section of the American public:  families, a couple of guys watching a game, a group enjoying a girls’ night out and a nice-looking retired couple.  Oh, that would be us. 

We’re always greeted warmly by a staff that invariably seems happy and friendly.  The first thing we order are margaritas, and they are brought with salsa and a basket of home-made corn chips that are so crisp and warm, you’re not sure if you want to kiss them or eat them.  Okay, I’ve never kissed them.  I don’t think we’ve ever eaten there without getting at least one refill (of the chips not the drinks). 

The menu is fairly large, and we’ve made a variety of selections over the years.  Not once have we been disappointed.  The food is fresh, it is tasty, and if you ask for mild, you get mild, not spicy nor tasteless; request medium-hot, and that is what you get.  The service is timely but not hurried, and the bill is eminently reasonable.

There is only one negative. It feels like a local place to us, but it is a day's drive away.  You see, every two or three months, we got to our daughter’s in Muncie, IN.  It is a ten hour drive.  Let’s face it, we’re not as peppy as we once were, and ten hours is about two hours more than we like to drive in a day.  Eight hours takes us, serendipitously, to exit 112 off route 70, just this side of Columbus.  Take the exit, turn left and cross under the highway.  Off to your right, you’ll see a Hampton Inn, a very comfortable Hampton Inn with free wi fi and a nice breakfast. 

Get your overnight stuff out of the car, check in and walk your tired self across the access drive and into La Fogata Grill.  We found it by luck, by a quirk of fate  We enter tired an bleary, but whatever table they give us, we sit down at home.